Reviews live performance p. 5 CD p.20 book p. 28 why probe? (the nature of composition) p. 18 Volume 21, Issue 1 FREDERIK RZEWSKI’S THE PEOPLE UNITED WILL NEVER BE DEFEATED p. 22 $6.25 U.S. THE “PEOPLE’S MAESTRO” AT THE END OF A LONG CAREER p. 28 Volume 21, Issue 1

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2 | New Music Connoisseur Volume 21, Issue 1 | 3 live performance reviews contributors

Barry L. Cohen is a devotee of contemporary music in all its various manifestations. After a career in publishing (Fairchild, Hearst, Curtis, Forbes), Barry founded New Music Connoisseur 18 years ago, and until 2010 served as its Publisher and Editor-In-Chief. He studied music privately with Eric Ewazen and Adrian Carr and created original and realized music in his The Screw own MIDI studio, including an original score for a 16-mm. film.

Daniel Felsenfeld is a composer. He lives in Brooklyn.

Matthew Harris’s opera, The Mark of Cain was premiered last season by Chelsea Opera; this season his cantata for chorus and orchestra, A Child’s Christmas in Wales, had its German premiere. Kantorei of Kansas City recently released Music and Sweet Poetry: Choral Music by Matthew Harris. Keeps turning Daniel Felsenfeld

Leonard Lehrman wrote the first English singing translations of Glinka’s A Life for the New York City Opera is doing what it corridors of childhood in a way that Czar, Dargomyzhsky’s Rusalka, and Mussorgsky’s Getting Married. ought to be doing: the absence of a would no doubt have pleased Henry Excerpts are among his 1,250 YouTube videos along with 9 of his 10 operas, 3 of his 6 permanent home has helped rebrand it James. If at times it came off as too‐safe musicals, and many of his 197 other works. His opera HANNAH will receive its U.S. premiere into the lithe and fierce little company and lacking shock – the television was a Dec. 9 at Malverne Community Presbyterian Church and Dec. 23 at Hebrew Union College- who can afford to take chances, especially one‐trick; the bloodied Peter Quint just Jewish Institute of Religion in Manhattan. under the visionary helm of George Steele. stayed bloodied – that was no doubt And take them it does, evident by their Buntrock’s intention, as it was also that of production of Benjamin Britten’s lustrous Britten and that of his librettist Myfanwy Joel Mandelbaum is Professor Emeritus at Queens College and is the composer of creeper The Turn of the Screw. The piece Piper. The scary in Screw is not simply The Village, an opera based on a true story from the Holocaust focusing on rescuers in a should be the go‐to for every composer flesh‐deep; it is not intended to be The French village. interested in opera: few characters, modest Shining, but a true psychological thriller orchestral forces, and yet it is a robust and that keeps digging weeks after you have Arthur Margolin has a Ph.D in Music Theory from Princeton University where he near‐grand telling of Henry James’ chilling left it. little tale. studied with Jim Randall, Milton Babbitt, and Benjamin Boretz (whom he first met as an undergraduate at NYU). He has retired and lives in England with his wife Kelly and housemaster Frederick, an 11 year old cockapoo.

Barry O’Neal continues to be involved with the music program at St. Michael’s Church It came off as distant but contemporary, rattling on the Upper-Westside, where he participated in the Songs of Light and Dark concert containing several world premieres. He was also the focus of a retrospective concert of his around the dark corridors of childhood in a way own music on May 3rd at Russell Library in Middletown, CT. that would no doubt have pleased Henry James. Sarah Plimpton is a poet and painter. She lives in New York City, shows at the June Kelly Gallery and has just published a book of poetry, The Every Day. The piece can be especially taxing on Casting was stellar, especially one Dominic the person charged with the staging. Armstrong (whom The Times aptly referred Fortunately for City Opera (and for all to as “clarion‐voiced”), who gave the ghost Welsh composer Hilary Tann lives in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains in upstate of us who saw it) the task was put in of Peter Pears a run for his proverbial NY where she is the John Howard Payne Professor of Music at Union College. She was the more‐than‐capable hands of Sam money. Laura Worsham was stunning as composer in residence for the Eastman School of Music Women in Music Festival in 2011 Buntrock. Recasting the piece in the Flora, and Sara Jakubiak was appropriately and Women Composers Festival of Hartford in 2013. Website: hilarytann.com early 1980s and referencing many a lost as the Governess (though only as the then‐contemporary film (i.e. posters character demanded; vocally she was spot Andrew Violette lives in Brooklyn. His Sonata for Guitar, premiered by Dan Lippel, is out of Luke Skywalker adorn little Miles’ on). And Jennifer Goode Cooper made on New Focus Recordings. walls and the television static plays an excellent spectral companion to Mr. a vital role a la Poltergeist), it was as Armstrong. In short, there was not a weak Composer Mark Zuckerman lives in Roosevelt, NJ. successful as an update like this can link in this small chain. But the true star be. The inevitable questions that result of the night was Mr. Britten, due to the in these displacements (why are they efforts of conductor Jayce Ogren and +++ writing so many letters when they could the New York City Opera, who drew out just reach for the cordless telephone?) of this scaled‐down orchestra the eerie were subsumed by the overall top‐down intended sonic delights. If there was iciness believability and cinematic presentation in the interpretation, it served, like the on the cover: of the project. It came off as distant but production, to lend the proceedings a Con Brio by Sarah Plimpton (oil on linen) contemporary, rattling around the dark compelling distancing chill, which glued the entire night together. 

4 | New Music Connoisseur Volume 21, Issue 1 | 5 live performance reviews

The second set of subscription concerts by the high winds and bells. The Janácˇ ek element is movement fades away on a low and then a Symphony Orchestra with Ms. Josefowicz New Music Philharmonic offered the New York premiere found in a meandering middle register idea high D from the violin. The second movement playing and the composer conducting) it begins of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Frieze (2012), that becomes a nearly disruptive ostinato. (Pulse 1) is as static as the first was active. to make sense. at the an orchestra piece in four movements that Despite the named influences, this “slow Slow and seemingly immobile, it has a gentle, Philharmonic was jointly commissioned by the New York movement,” seemed the most personal in almost inaudible pulse, often played by the Mr. Salonen is probably still better known as Philharmonic, the Royal Philharmonic Society Frieze in the way its agitation kept speeding timpani, as if a heartbeat. The violin wanders a conductor than a composer after his long and BBC Radio 3 and written in some sense as a up and slowing down, before ending with a in delicate fragments of melody as if they were tenure as Music Director of the Los Angeles The New York Philharmonic, response to the Beethoven 9th Symphony (also long held woodwind chord, and the petering the random thoughts of someone trying to fall Philharmonic (he is presently based in London Alan Gilbert, Conductor: on the program), which was commissioned by out of the Janácˇek-like string interjections. asleep. There is unease here, but not panic, a where he is principal conductor of the Music by Mark-Anthony the Royal Philharmonic Society in 1822. Turnage The final movement (Quarter note = 120), a muted anxiety is present and the music rarely Philharmonia Orchestra), but make no mistake Turnage (and Beethoven), has been much in the news this year because sort-of rondo, is more conventional Turnage, rises above a whisper. Raw and ferocious, the about it: he is the genuine article as a writer his opera Anna Nicole turned out to be the last brassy, full of jazzy riffs and stacked ostinati. third movement (Pulse 2) is the nightmare that of music and his orchestral style is brilliantly Tuesday, October 8, 2013 opera presented by the New York City Opera On whole, Frieze seemed a step forward for follows falling asleep with the day’s anxiety his own. The orchestra responded to his The New York Philharmonic, before the company filed for bankruptcy this the composer, away from his bad-boy, épater unresolved. The soloist is in constant fierce concerto with golden tone and clear rhythm Esa-Pekka Salonen, Guest fall. His status as a fiery, young Turk (Ceres, the bourgeoisie manner, toward a more motion with the orchestra struggling to keep and Ms. Josefowicz, playing from memory, Conductor: Music by an orchestral piece that was done at Juilliard, thoughtful, engaging style. up. Finally it seeks to crush her with harsh was staggeringly virtuosic in the very difficult Esa-Pekka Salonen (Ravel as part of the Juilliard School’s Focus festival chords. Occasionally the music swings with solo part. Her advocacy of the concerto, in January, is one of the loudest and most At the beginning of November, Esa-Pekka an almost jazzy vigor. It is hard to imagine written for her, has paid high dividends in and Sibelius), Saturday aggressive pieces I have ever heard), seems to Salonen conducted the Philharmonic in five how the NYCB dancers managed to dance her sensational mastery of its expressive and November 2, 1013 be moderating somewhat, and Frieze, which performances of a program that featured to this wild music. Salonen describes the final display opportunities. takes its name from a painting, Beethoven his own Violin Concerto (2009) in its first movement (Adieu) as a farewell but to nothing By Barry O’Neal Frieze by Gustav Klimt, was an inventive New York Philharmonic performances, with in particular, maybe “…of something coming to Salonen opened the program with a lovely 25 minute symphony in all but name that the soloist for whom it was written, Leila an end and something new being born out of reading of Maurice Ravel’s Mother Goose touched lightly on Beethoven, most noticeably Josefowicz and music by Ravel and Sibelius. the old.” The violin’s nostalgic musings, initially Suite (1908-10), and after the intermission by beginning the first movement (Hushed This was not the New York Premiere, however. in duet with a long-lined English horn cantilena, offered a curious reading of Jean Sibelius’ and expansive) with the same bare fifths that Since Alan Gilbert took over, the New York open Beethoven’s 9th. As mallet percussion Philharmonic has been compiling a decent ostinati, pungent melodic fragments and Since Alan Gilbert took over, the New York Philharmonic has record of presenting new and recent music trumpet riffs pile up, the movement makes its by contemporary composers from all over the way to a series of pounding tutti chords that been compiling a decent record of presenting new and recent planet. So far this season the Philharmonic alternate with enigmatic vibraphone chords. has offered music by Osvaldo Golijov, Krysztof The second movement (With veiled menace) is music by contemporary composers from all over the planet. Penderecki, Mark-Anthony Turnage and a vital scherzo whose sudden pauses between Esa-Pekka Salonen, with Christopher Rouse, jazzy syncopated outbursts are reminiscent Thomas Adès, Julian Anderson and Magnus of the striking pauses in the scherzo of the The Concerto, awarded the 2012 Gravemeyer trend upward and the orchestra contributes mighty Symphony No. 5 in Eb major, Op. Lindberg to be heard from later in the season. Beethoven. The movement had a touch of Prize, was introduced to the city by the New rising scales that seem to go nowhere. There 82 (1912). It was coarse, driven and marred In addition, the Contact series has presented West Side Story/cum post-war modern jazz York City Ballet in 2010 as the ballet, Mirage, is a sonorous climax suggesting a grand by some quite ugly brass playing, especially some notable premieres of chamber orchestra and was most engaging. To these ears, the by Peter Martins, and is a stunning addition to procession is about to set out, but it breaks on the part of the horn section. Since this material by younger composers. This season third movement (Quarter note = 60) was the the repertoire. As described by the composer off to be followed by more sweet musing and is surely one of the greatest and most will end with series of concerts, the so-called most striking, an elegiac mixture of Britten it begins (1. Mirage: Spiccato, leggiero) “as if rising scales. Eventually the music congeals frequently played of all twentieth century New York Philharmonic Biennial, devoted and Janácˇ ek, with some lovely writing for the out of nowhere,” with the solo violin playing around soft cluster chords and seems about symphonies, one wondered if Salonen and entirely to new music. The two compositions pianissimo, rapid 16th note passagework to glide away. A sudden mysterious quartal the Philharmonic have grown tired of it covered here are very good examples of accompanied by occasional celesta chords. chord suggests a new beginning, and the music after three previous performances. It left Mr. Gilbert’s interest. Sudden pauses interrupt the flow, and dark stops. The enigmatic end is startling, but on a disappointing residue in the ears of this deep string and brass chords, alternate with repetition (fortunately there is a recording with listener, despite the earlier delights of skirling woodwind figures. Eventually the the composer conducting the Finnish Radio the program.

6 | New| NewMusic Music Connoisseur Connoisseur Volume 21, Issue 1 | 7 live performance reviews

Vaughan Williams, Gustav Holst, Benjamin Fresher by far was the third work on the soloist, Meredith Treaster, still a student at explores musical territory that is more familiar The British Britten, Michael Tippett, Peter Maxwell Davies program, the New York premiere of Helen Juilliard, played with a subtle intensity and from Britten and Peter Maxwell Davies: the Have Arrived and Harrison Birtwhistle, among others, that Grime’s Clarinet Concerto (2009) in three perfect intonation. intersection of popular elements and advanced have had a significant impact on the musical brief movements, which bustled and sang contemporary techniques, from the latter repertoire. Mr. Sachs has rightly elected to most attractively. Brilliantly played by Bryan The program concluded with a strong, and the bleakness of war, particularly the FOCUS! Festival: The British concentrate on the composers born during Conger, a Doctoral Fellow at the Juilliard nuanced performance of No Man’s Land trench warfare of World War One, from the Renaissance: British Music and after the Second World War (George School, it alternated high lying traceries (2011), by Colin Matthews for Tenor, Baritone former. The use of the upright piano for the Since World War II-Opening Benjamin, Brian Fernyhough, Judith Weir, of solo clarinet and flute with more sober and chamber orchestra (2/2/1/bass clarinet/2; Sergeant’s “arias” and the celesta and muted Night Concert: The New James MacMillan, Cornelius Cardew), with a musings for the brass and strings. Scored 2/2/0/0; upright piano alternating with strings to suggest the otherworldly character Juilliard Ensemble, conducted sprinkling of lesser-known younger men and for flute alternating with piccolo, bassoon celesta, percussion-1 player and strings). of the situation, were particularly effective in women (Deidre Gribben, Michael Zev Gordon, alternating with contrabassoon, horn, No Man’s Land, which was commissioned demonstrating Matthews’ expressive skill, as by Joel Sachs. Music by Errolyn Wallen, Martin Suckling), thirty-three trumpet, trombone, harp, percussion and by the City of London Sinfonia in memory was the striking wind imitation of a harmonica, Jonathan Harvey, Alexander composers in all. single strings, Ms. Grime’s Clarinet Concerto of its late conductor, Richard Hickox, sets as the Captain describes someone playing a Goehr, Helen Grime, John had a wintry air that derived from a poem the an original text by Christopher Reid, that “mouth organ,” in the trenches. The soloists, Woolrich and Colin Matthews; The opening work on the first program, composer referenced in her program note, imagines the skeletons of two World War Kyle Bielfield, tenor and John Brancy, baritone Alice Tully Hall, Friday, Sringãra Chaconne (2008), by Jonathan “The Cracked Bell” by Charles Baudelaire. One soldiers as ghosts reflecting on the war could not have been better in characterizing the Harvey (1939-2012) was a poignant choice, The moving final movement (“Calm”), was and their disembodied state. Unlike the more two ghosts (sign them up for the next outing January 25, 2013 and Closing since Mr. Harvey died last fall. The composer, especially lovely, and concluded with a under-characterized protagonists, a German of Britten’s War Requiem in New York). No Night Concert: The Juilliard little known on this side of the Atlantic, delicate passage for the solo clarinet, with and an Englishman, of Wilfred Owen’s Man’s Land was the highpoint of the concert, a Orchestra, conducted by was very influenced by eastern mysticism harp and strings. Ms. Grime, born in York, poem, “Strange Meeting,” (so memorably very affecting contribution to the many works Mark Wigglesworth. Music and his work with Pierre Boulez at IRCAM. England, but raised in Scotland, studied at set by Britten in the War Requiem), both written since 1945 devoted to the horror of by Michael Tippett, Oliver Sringãra Chaconne, diaphanously scored Knussen, Mark-Anthony for flute doubling piccolo, oboe, 2 clarinets (one doubling contrabass clarinet), horn, Turnage and Benjamin Britten; trumpet, trombone, piano, percussion Now in its 29th year, the annual FOCUS! This year’s Festival, Alice Tully Hall, Friday, and single strings, was a mostly quiet and February 1, 2013 meditative piece, which in the manner of the which consisted of six programs... was devoted to the traditional chaconne, varied the opening four impressionistic chords with subtle changes in By Barry O’Neal growth and range of composition in the United Kingdom, instrumental color, texture and register. With its hints of Debussy and Messiaen, it was a which now has one of the richest and most diverse new lovely 14 minutes of hazy luminosity.

Alexander Goehr (b. 1932), the oldest music cultures in the world. Now in its 29th year, the annual FOCUS! composer on the program, was represented Festival of free concerts presented by the by…a musical offering (J. S. B. 1985) (1985), the Royal College of Music, but did some of Mr. Reid’s characters are British and very war, brilliantly performed by the young Juilliard Juilliard School is one of the highlights of commissioned for the Edinburgh Festival on compositional seasoning at the Tanglewood particularized: one an upper class (or at players under the direction of Mr. Sachs. the winter season in New York. Joel Sachs, the occasion of the tercentenary of Johann Music Center, which commissioned the least upper middle class) officer, Captain conducted all the pieces on the opening Sebastian Bach’s birth. It was scored for concerto. That may account for the somewhat Gifford (the Tenor) and the other a down- The final concert of the Festival on February 1, night program with his crack new music flute, 2 clarinets (one doubling bass clarinet), open air, “American” character of her to-earth commoner, Sergeant Slack (the the only full orchestra program, was more group, the New Juilliard Ensemble. Each year, horn, trumpet, trombone, piano, drum kit spacious instrumental writing and the gentle Baritone). The almost Brechtian character retrospective in character, but likewise very Sachs concentrates on one area of recent plus wood blocks, and small string section propulsiveness of her style, even in the slower of the dialogue with the high flown, poetic enjoyable. Mark Wigglesworth, a major music or one major 20th or 21st Century (2/1/2/0/1). Goehr, a well-regarded figure in more lyrical sections of the piece. style of the Captain sardonically undercut by conductor in his home country, Great composer. For example last year was devoted Europe, is a representative of the first wave the populist Sergeant, who sings irreverent Britain, was the terrific leader of a program to the music of John Cage and in 2011 the of British composers to be influenced by the The second half of the concert began with snatches of popular-styled songs, is matched that included music by Michael Tippett, focus was on the music of Poland (“Polish Second Viennese School. His work melded the another well-proportioned work for solo by Mr. Matthews’ music and the pre-recorded Oliver Knussen, Mark-Anthony Turnage and Modern: New Directions in Polish Music Schoenbergian proclivities of his style with instrument and chamber ensemble, Envoi (1997), snatches of period music (a raucous march, Benjamin Britten, the 100th anniversary of Since 1945”). This year’s Festival, which the formal manner of a Baroque suite (think by John Woolrich (b. 1954). Elegantly scored for The United Forces March, a music hall song whose birth is being widely celebrated this consisted of six programs (an opening large Schoenberg Serenade, Op. 24), concluding solo viola, alto flute, bass clarinet, percussion “Your King and Country Want You,’ et al.). year. The music was challenging for the young chamber ensemble concert, three smaller with a Ricercare that used the B-flat, A, C, (1 player), violin, cello and piano, Envoi was To listeners familiar with Colin Matthews players of the Juilliard Orchestra, but under chamber music concerts, a panel and a B-natural cipher derived from Bach’s name. written in memory of Mary Silverthorne, wife of earlier music, all this “eclecticism” might the inspired direction of Mr. Wigglesworth, closing orchestral program) was devoted to Goehr’s …musical offering was a bit long Paul Silverthorne, principal violist of the London come as something of a shock. Certainly they acquitted themselves in a most the growth and range of composition in the at nearly 20 minutes, and too busy with Symphony Orchestra and London Sinfonietta and the mastery of instrumental and vocal accomplished manner. United Kingdom, which now has one of the constantly contrapuntal activity for these ears received its first performance outside of Europe forces was no surprise, but the relatively richest and most diverse new music cultures to take in. It seemed old-fashioned in a musty this evening. Eight minutes long, it was a graceful, conservative, tonal idiom was. The mastery, The program opened with the Ritual Dances in the world. Since the emergence of Edward and outmoded academic fashion. haunting meditation on mortality that rarely rose it seems appropriate to say, is almost a given from “The Midsummer Marriage” (l947/1952), Elgar in the early 20th Century, Britain has above a whisper, dying away at the end with the for the post-Britten generation, but in this a 25 minute concert excerpt from Michael produced a string of major figures: Ralph solo viola cut off by a soft bass drum stroke. The stunning and powerful work, Matthews Tippett’s first opera. Tippett (1905-1998),

8 | New Music Connoisseur Volume 21, Issue 1 | 9 live performance reviews

is one of the most original figures in 20th (2005), a short, exuberant and mostly and especially Zhenit’ba (Getting Married) The Bard program preceded Mavra with Chinese, and one Canadian) was headed Century British music. The work that loud tone poem for large orchestra (2, by the latter, after Gogol. Like Mavra, the works by composers writing in Paris at the by the radiant soprano Nancy Allen Lundy, established his reputation, A Child of Our with alto flute/piccolo/2/english horn/2/ Seminal Text- Mussorgsky work has four characters, all time of its premiere, beginning with Francis along with 3 Japanese onstage percussionists Time, was written during the outbreak and bass clarinet/2/contrabassoon; 4/3/3/ Driven Music with their own distinctive tempi and time Poulenc’s 1956 song cycle after Paul Eluard, and the Vancouver Opera Chorus - “as early years of the Second World War and euphonium/1; a percussion section consisting in Context signatures, which collide and conflict with Le travail du peintre, featuring a formidable Monks Chanting (religion)” - and Orchestra concerned itself with man’s inhumanity to of 3 triangles, assorted cymbals. 3 ratchets each other as the characters do onstage. Also performance by baritone John Hancock with conducted by Jonathan Darlington, directed man. Tippett, a pacifist who spent time in and 3 bass drums, harp, celesta and strings). OR like Mavra, the Mussorgsky represents a road Anna Polonsky at the piano, and five screens by Paul Peers. There are many beautful prison during the war as a conscientious Commissioned by Simon Rattle and the Berlin Roads Taken, taken and then abandoned by its composer, showing works by each of the 7 painters moments inspired by chant in this work, and objector, was always concerned with social Philharmonic, Ceres made an agreeable din. for Mussorgsky set only the first act of depicted. Polonsky shared the piano bench the trance-inducing rarely lasts as long as in issues and his first opera is a curious mash-up It was inspired by a reading of Bill Bryson’s and Then Not Gogol’s 3-act drama. with Orion Weiss in the 4-hand arrangement comparable works by Philip Glass, for example. of Jungian psychology and Mozart’s The A Short History of Nearly Everything and is Taken of Satie’s Parade (1916-17). Geoffrey But to this writer at least the faulty prosody is Magic Flute. The libretto (the composer’s named for one of the first asteroids to be An excellent production of Mavra, with a McDonald conducted the Bard Festival too often as disturbing as it is in Stravinsky’s own) is often awkwardly phrased, and given a name. According to the composer the Schönberg, Bartók and Russian cast, performing in Paris, is posted Chamber Players in Les mariés de la tour English settings, with stresses in the wrong impenetrable, but the quest-like subject idea of the piece was to offer two different on YouTube – with subtitles in Greek! Eiffel, a delightful 1921 collaboration of 5 of places like the first syllable of “began,” or Stravinsky, arguably the matter released a flood of superb music from sorts of music, a florid clarinet idea and a Bard’s were, fortunately, in English, and the the French Six, later orchestrated by Marius the second syllable of “tender,” to name just the fledgling opera composer. The Ritual syncopated trombone riff and gradually leading composers of the 20th audience was able to follow what was being Constant, and Stravinsky’s (slightly weird idea two of many examples that interfere with the Dances, which depict the four seasons in have them collide, as if the asteroid were century, were all uprooted sung - very well, actually - by the non-Russian of) Ragtime (1918) with 15 players on 11 comprehensibility of the text. terms of symbolic chases, are full of ravishing striking the earth or another planetary body. from their homes in Europe, cast of Anne-Carolyn Bird as Parasha, Ann instruments plus 3 dancers. orchestral writing in which light and dark The resulting uproar was greatly aided by came to the U.S. and died here. McMahon Quintero as her mother, Melis Much more satisfying, if on a much simpler battle for supremacy and call for the utmost the three ratchets, bass drums, and strange Each became known primarily Jaatinen as the busybody neighbor, and This was only the fifth of 8 such ambitious scale, was an opera viewed the same day in in virtuosity. The players of the Juilliard noises that seemed to emanate from the Nicholas Phan as Parasha’s hussar lover, who programs at the Bard Stravinsky Festival. I Vancouver, as part of the conference: Naomi’s Orchestra were especially challenged by the double basses. After the initial performance, for instrumental music, but disguises himself as a female cook in order wish we had been able to attend more. We Road, a one-acter in 5 scenes by Ramona rapid passagework of the final dance (“Fire Wigglesworth, with a distinct twinkle in what they could have done to get close to her. When discovered, like did manage to catch a July 18 performance Luengen on a libretto by Ann Hodges (who in Summer”) with only a few rough edges his eye, announced he was reviving the old if they had set their native Cherubino in Marriage of Figaro, he jumps there of the János Szász dramatization of directed it) based on the eponymous novel by apparent and played the final fade out with tradition of repeating a new work at its local language to music, for an out of a window. Since there was a window Mikhail Bulgakov’s Master and Margarita, Joy Kogawa. Presented by Vancouver Opera in magical finesse. premiere. The large audience received the audience able to understand in the set, and the stage was not very high, the program for which warned: “contains Schools that had commissioned it in 2005-06, second hearing with even greater enthusiasm I was wondering whether he would jump nudity” – though not nearly as much as can it tells the story of Canada’s treatment of and appreciate that language, A more recent work, Oliver Knussen’s 1994 than the first. through the former or off the latter, and was be seen in movies of the work posted online. citizens of Japanese descent during World one movement Horn Concerto, Op. 25 has always been an enigma. only slightly disappointed when he simply ran (What I’d really like to see, though, is Sergei War II, which was even worse than that of followed. Knussen (b. 1952) wrote the piece The program ended with a brisk, brilliantly across the stage. (Even more disappointing is Slonimsky’s opera based on the novel, not yet the U.S. Endured were not only interment for Barry Tuckwell on commission from the played performance of Benjamin Britten’s by Leonard J. Lehrman that Mr. Phan, who was scheduled to star in produced in this country.) but permanent loss of property, livelihood, Suntory Foundation and it was first performed well-known Sinfonia da Requiem (1940), NYCO’s production of Johann Christian Bach’s and often the will to live. The opera ends on in Suntory Hall, Tokyo by the Metropolitan his first major autonomous orchestral score, Endimione, will not be heard here, the season +++ a note of hope and reconciliation, however. Symphony Orchestra, on October 7, 1994, written for a very large orchestra. Though having been cancelled.) Leon Botstein led Japanese, Chinese and Koreans were among with Mr. Tuckwell as the soloist and Mr. composed outside the scope and time frame members of the American Symphony Orchestra. the four singer/actors portraying 9 characters, Knussen conducting. Originally planned as of the Festival, the choice of closing the Stravinsky’s 2 Asian Operas all excellent, accompanied by pianist Candy a work in two contrasting movements, the FOCUS! Festival with an early work by the The work’s initial reception at its 1922 in Vancouver Siu. A very good recording of the work is concerto became an intense one movement best-known British composer of the period Mavra at Bard premiere in Paris was not encouraging. available; Sam Chung, who plays Naomi’s of 13 minutes duration for horn and rather was an appropriate gesture in honor of Perhaps the subtleties of the relatively Tan Dun is another culturally displaced would-be pianist brother Stephen, is the only Igor Stravinsky’s one-act opera Mavra, a large orchestra (4/3/4/3 winds, with the the 100th anniversary of his birth, which conservative music, playing with language, composer (from China) who seems to be cast member we saw who is also on the CD. featured work at the Bard Stravinsky Festival usual doublings; 4/2/2/0 brass; timpani, two occured on November 22, 2013. The fierce were lost on the audience. They were following in Stravinsky’s steps in more than Aug. 11, 2013, is a particularly interesting percussion players, celesta, harp and strings). concentration of the music, echoes of Mahler certainly lost on the first recording of the one way. His intense and inventive use of +++ case in point, for it represented a road taken The mercurial shifts between quick and slow and Berg, anticipations of Bernstein and many opera (Columbia, 1968), conducted by Robert percussion (including water and paper) rarely once, and then not taken again, at least music, and overlapping pungent and dreaming of the next generation of British composers, Craft, with a cast headed by Susan Belling fails to startle and stir, but his setting of the by Stravinsky. His final sizeable setting of instrumental combinations was handled with make this a prophetic score that points (née Belink) that had no idea of agogic English language could definitely benefit from League/ISCM, a text in Russian, the work was dedicated Knussen’s usual consummate skill. Lushly the way to the later Britten masterpieces, accents in Russian, thereby losing an entire collaboration with a native speaker. That to Pushkin, Glinka, and Tchaikovsky; and scored, the pan-tonal work exploits all the War Requiem and Symphony for Cello and dimension of the rhythmic life of the piece. was my overall impression of his 3-act opera Kirchner musicologist Boris Asafyev (1884-1949) resources, especially the upper register, of the Orchestra. The three-movement work offered Stravinsky then went on to settings in other presented with one intermission, Tea: A Mirror Another composer who followed Stravinsky noted fairly specific phrase borrowings, that modern horn. On this occasion, Trevor Nuckols, many opportunities for the young players to languages, including the beautiful almost of Soul, with a libretto by the composer to some extent, though he studied with are, however, also common to many Russian a Juilliard undergraduate, met the virtuosic test their mettle and for the most part they Bizet-like setting of André Gide’s Perséphone and Xu Ying, in a sumptuous production we Schönberg, as well as Bloch and Sessions, folksongs as well. Like Tchaikovsky’s Eugene challenges of the piece brilliantly. This is one of did so admirably, ending the Festival on a high (also featured in the Bard Festival), which attended May 9, 2013 as part of the Opera the influence of all of whom can be heard Onegin, and even more like Dargomyzhsky’s Knussen’s most effective and powerful works note indeed. Kudos to Mr. Sachs for planning Craft characterized, privately, as “performable America convention in Vancouver, BC. The in his work, was Leon Kirchner (1919-2009). Rusalka and Stone Guest, the libretto adheres and it was a great pleasure to hear it in its first the programs and to Juilliard for engaging Mr. anywhere except where French is the native opera, published by Schirmer, who generously Stravinsky warned him, he told me, not to very closely to the Pushkin source. Rimsky- New York performance. Wigglesworth to inspire the Juilliard Orchestra language,” and his epic Rake’s Progress, on provided a copy of the score, dates from take a job in academia, for fear it would Korsakov and Mussorgsky were clearly also to such considerable heights!  a libretto by Auden & Kallman that contains 2002 and has already been produced in stifle his composing – advice he did not take, influences, especially Mozart and Salieri After the intermission, Mr. Wigglesworth some of the worst missettings of English in Tokyo, Amsterdam, Shanghai, New Zealand, becoming one of Harvard’s most respected by the former (who had been Stravinsky’s conducted the New York premiere of Ceres musical literature (notwithstanding Craft’s Lyon, Stockholm, Oldenburg, Santa Fe, and and revered (if also sometimes feared) teacher), also based directly on Pushkin, professed attempts to help the composer Philadelphia. The cast of 5 (2 Americans, 2 teachers of composition and performance. correct them). The League of Composers/ISCM (which

10 | New Music Connoisseur Volume 21, Issue 1 | 11 live performance reviews

prominently displays a Milken Archive photo Doktor Faustus, who was in turn inspired by brought back loadbang for the finale, based The overall experience was quite enjoyable, Traviata. There’s a potential social indictment of Stravinsky on its website) gave Kirchner’s Schönberg. Derived from the composer’s own on “the public and imagined private life of recalling our trip to Millay’s Steepletop home here when the entire company screams at the work a place of honor, the finale, on its 90th valedictory Fourth String Quartet, it has a His Royal Highness Prince Harry over the past last year with composer Joel Mandelbaum, small titular figure (literally): “Get some tits!” anniversary Season Finale 2013: Reflections drama that convinces from start to finish. five years.” Again many clusters were present, who has set a number of Millay poems quite and she does, urging a wacked-out plastic & Memories, June 17 at Merkin Hall. It also along with much falsetto and music aptly beautifully, most notably, “Love Is Not All.” surgeon (Richard Troxell) offering implants: featured former Kirchner student Allen Shawn +++ self-described as “disorienting.” “Supersize me!” Suddenly she’s a success, and in the world premiere of his Pas de Deux Except for a few duets and trios, the piece then a celebrity. What does that say about her, (2013) at its March 30 Tenri concert of the On April 29, the somewhat more mature could have been a one-woman show. “I’m and about society? same name with flutist Sue Ann Kahn and Symphony Space ensemble Cygnus, with reliable soprano a Stranger Here Myself” was a one-woman bassist Lewis Paer, abetted by clarinetist Alan Elizabeth Farnum, guitarists Oren Fader show built on Kurt Weill songs, starring Part of the problem, though, is the aspiration to The League/ISCM’s next production will be Kay and guitarist William Anderson in other and William Anderson (and two additional Angelina Réaux some two decades ago. comedy in the work. “I’m quite uncomfortable at Symphony Space, the site of numerous works by Charles Wuorinen, Eugene O’Brien, guests), and cellist Chris Finckel collaborating Now that title belongs to cabarettist Mark with it now,” the composer admitted to New notable concerts this past year, a few of Henry Brant and Alba Potes. Nearly all were wtih flutist Tara Helen O’Connor, oboist Nadler, who combines that Weill/Nash song York critic Justin Davidson. “It’s mocking which we were able to attend. Violist delightful and consistently entertaining, James Austin Smith, and violinist Calvin with 14 others, only half a dozen of them by someone’s real life. I wouldn’t do it again.” Richard Auldon Clark led his Manhattan especially Wuorinen’s early (1960) pieces Wiersma, performed six works. Four were Weill, in a one-man show subtitled “Musik American coloratura soprano Sarah Joy Miller Contemporary Chamber Ensemble Jan. 4 for Bert Turetzky and Brant’s 1977 Cerberus premieres, including “Pregnant Pauses” by from Weimar and Beyond.” We caught the as Anna trills and arpeggiates in a register in two of his own works, two by Seymour which recalled both Ives and Peter and Faye-Ellen Silverman (another former Kirchner final Saturday matinee May 18 in its April originally written for the much heavier lyric Barab, and one each by Walter Hartley and the Wolf. student); “Souffrir/Symphonier,” written for 29-May 19 run at the York Theatre, and were soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek, who premiered Bohuslav Martinu, all but the last, from the group by Andrew Waggoner; and two impressed with the material, the presentation, the role in London. She also pole-dances (in an 1932, composed over the past decade. Paul The Kirchner work was entitled Lily, version works which Bond conducted: “Estat ai en and the performance. A family secret carried aria that was slightly extended for her), vamps, Cohen was the soprano saxophone soloist in for Soprano and Chamber Ensemble (1978) – greu cossirier” (on a 12th century troubador through to the end keeps the tension going, delivers lines like “I want to blow you all... a Barab’s quintet for sax and strings, and the reconstructed and edited by David Fetherolf, text in Occitan) by Frank Brickle, and as violin, accordion, and slide projections kiss,” and even simulates providing such service world premiere of Hartley’s quartet for sax based on portions of Kirchner’s 1977 opera “Homage to [Vaclav] Havel” by Symphony keep the focus on context and contemporary to her billionaire octagenarian husband (a and strings. Clark duoed with pianist Lois of the same name (starring Susan Belling in Space director Laura Kaminsky. Mohammed reverberation. The contributions of Brecht, solid-voiced Robert Brubaker) – surrounded by a Anderson in the other Barab work and with the title role) based on Saul Bellow’s novel Fairouz’s “Three Fragments of Ibn Khafajah,” Schwartz, Dietz, Hollander, Deval, Spoliansky, chorus blocking the view. clarinetist Scott Gerhard in his own. Tenor Henderson, the Rain King, which had been a tribute to “gay love from 1200 years ago,” and a surprisingly à propos Aznavour add up Michael Slattery, accompanied by string a disastrous failure in its one and only full were sung provocatively in Arabic, sometimes to more than a sum of their individual parts. Fellatio seems to be the landmark of one NYCO quartet, sang and spoke the major work, production at NY City Opera. There is some with a wobbly vibrato, somtimes chirpily production after another – from A Quiet Place Clark’s setting of Mark Twain’s posthumously lovely, lyrical music in the piece. But the with a slightly disembodied vocal tone. Larry to Powder Her Face, which was also at BAM, published “War Prayer.“ This is a text which +++ composer’s self-indulgence, including his own Alan Smith’s “An Infant Crying,” based on and exhibited (that seems to be the right word) should always be welcome on programs, recorded voice bemoaning his fate and “my texts by Arnold, Whitman, and Tennyson, 25 completely nude men walking around the especially when foolhardy military invasions mu-u-u-u-sic lessons”!” is really a bit much, commissioned and premiered by Paul Sperry stage, allegedly impersonating the main female are contemplated. It has been adapted as Anna Nicole not to mention the nonsense language he in 1984, was the oldest work on the program. character’s lovers, but by all appearances a film at least three times, and set to music made up for the African natives to sing. Lou The Kaminsky, commissioned by Cygnus and at NYCO more interested in each other than in her. Not many more, most notably in 1995 by Finally we come to the sad case of the American Karchin, founder and conductor of the ISCM inspired by Beckett, asserted the importance of that I’ve anything against nudity or sensuality Herbert Haufrecht (1910-1998) in his very model and would-be actress Anna Nicole Smith orchestra and a former student of Kirchner’s, the powerful voice of poets, often imprisoned on stage. Far from it. But there was none of last composition. (1967- 2007), and the New York City Opera, agrees that were the opera written just a bit for “subversive activities.” the former and precious little of the latter in whose swansong production Sept. 17-28 at later there would have been a consciousness this production (with 13 principals, chorus, Victoria Bond’s Cutting Edge series, also at BAM (we caught the penultimate night) turned lacking in it that would have made use of a The Edna St. Vincent Millay Society and and orchestra conducted by Stephen Sloane, Symphony Space, presented three concerts, out to be the US premiere of a 2011 opera real African tongue like Swahili or one of the American Opera Projects collaborated at directed by Richard Jones). Just a string of of which we were able to attend two, April about her by two Britishers, composer Mark- Bantu languages. Symphony Space June 13 with the world more four-letter words than I’ve ever heard 8 & 29. The first of these featured the young Anthony Turnage and librettist Richard Thomas. premiere of Beauty Intolerable, a series of 16 in an opera libretto (mostly in the mouth of quartet “loadbang,” consisting of baritone Kirchner and his music are however much Millay texts affectingly set for two sopranos, capable Susan Bickley as Anna’s mother, and Jeffrey Gavett, a trumpet, trombone, and In the case of Anna Nicole Smith, whose better served with a CD entitled Revelations, a mezzo, a reader, and piano by Sheila Silver. the chorus). bass clarinet, in a series of short, mostly death from a drug overdose paralleled that produced by his daughter Lisa and the pianist Veteran NYCO star Lauren Flanigan was pretty noisy works by Alexandre Lunsqui, Reiko of her son months before (not to mention Joel Fan on the Verdant World Records label, solid, only occasionally a little wobbly. Mezzo Perhaps that’s to be expected from a librettist Füting, Andy Akiho, and Douglas Gibson’s her idol Marilyn Monroe), the British team available at Classics Online. As critic Stephen Deanne Meek came across (intentionally) as a famous for his Jerry Springer Opera which “Fanfare for the Common Audience,” based seemed to want to indict the paparazzi with Smoliar put it so eloquently in his online little screwy, reader Tandy Cronyn a little arch. seems to have been deemed too vulgar to play on an irate letter complaining about the their faceless, ubiquitous, insect-like cameras, review of the disc, there is a ”sense of literary Risa Renae Harman glowed as though the on a New York stage – at least perhaps until dissonance of such composers as Copland which keep clicking even after the music has discourse“ in every work here. Soprano Diana pieces had been written for her – which they now... The audience didn’t seem to mind. But and Barber. Pianist Kathleen Supové and stopped (eerily invoking the likely survival of Hoagland shines in 3 vocal performances with were. Christopher Cooley and Kelly Horsted again, what does that say about us, and about actor Oleg Dubson followed with Bond’s cockroaches after a nuclear war). Perhaps Fan, while Beverly Hoch is heard accompanied were the pianists. Dona D. Vaughn directed. a company that leaves only one opera company own comic skit, “The Page Turner,” replete they had Princess Diana on their mind. But by the composer. But the most satisfying The moods ranged from bebop to dreamy, in New York with a season: the Met, a house with clusters, tinkling, drinking, and almost their opera has neither the lyricism nor the work is the 9-minute solo piano finale, to understated to perky to sweet and quite which is not, in Tony Tommasini’s words, one everything but playing. The US premiere of pathos to merit comparisons they might have ”The Forbidden,“ inspired by the figure of racy, concluding the penultimate song with: “that fosters new opera.” That was NYCO. We Hannah Lash’s monodrama Stoned Prince liked, to heroines in La Bohème, Manon, or La Adrian Leverkühn in Thomas Mann’s novel, “Punish me, surely, with the shaft I crave!” shall miss it. 

12 | New Music Connoisseur Volume 21, Issue 1 | 13 live performance reviews

stage, though the absence of full staging (and his disappearance would have been avoided, Enrico Lagasca. They made it very clear that STEAL A PENCIL of titles) left one wishing for a fully staged I’m sure, had the pianissimo instructions they were in charge. All three were recruited FOR ME production. It was, in the cramped space, been scrupulously followed. And Ina’s gentle via Mannes College of Music. sometimes hard to tell at a glance which character would have been more successfully Steal a Pencil for Me, Jewish character was singing. The three leading ladies limned and differentiated from the others if While Cohen uses his ensemble of piano, Theological Seminary, New were all lean attractive brunettes of about the Ilona Davidson, the otherwise highly effective violin, clarinet and cello remarkably well, some same height and fairly similar vocal tessiturae portrayer of the part, had sung the high notes more instrumental colors might be very helpful York April 30, 2013 and their prison garb made it difficult to tell marked piano and pianissimo as indicated. – in underlining the ghostliness of Rudi’s them apart. appearances and, perhaps in providing clearly By Joel Mandelbaum For the singers portraying the victims, different colors to identify Manja and Ina. Ari Pelto conducted with a sure sense of conveying the weakness of their situation the rhythm, communicating the mercurial while letting us hear their confident, well- Since operas are almost always tweaked changes in the score with a deft hand. trained voices, proved daunting. They all did before a second performance, I would Steal a Pencil for Me, an opera by Gerald However, one persistent flaw marred the reasonably well with this problem. I thought express my own wish for more recognition of Cohen to a libretto by Deborah Brevoort, performance: his batonless right hand Robert Balonek, who portrayed Jaap, did the Manja’s redeeming deed – even if only by an was presented on April 30th at the Jewish maintained a peripatetic forte throughout. best at sublimating his vocalism to portray extended expression of gratitude by Ina and Theological Seminary in New York in a semi- Consequently one missed the dynamic memorably a character in the full homeliness the others. But that is a small matter. Overall, staged version, accompanied by an ensemble contrasts which are present in the score, of his predicament. Steal a Pencil for Me is a beautifully sculpted of four instruments. especially in those wonderful scenes work which will, I hope, be seen by many when Rudi appears as a figment of Ina’s The most memorable singers for their vocal audiences and celebrated as a monument to It tells the fascinating story, true to life imagination. The puzzlement that many in the power were the three who played Nazi the perseverance of the human spirit in the down to very particular details, of how two audience felt on seeing and hearing him after captors, Ricardo Rivera, Miloslav Antonov and face of barbarism.  Holocaust survivors met, fell in love and gradually extricated themselves from previous relationships, their stories unfolding over a background of increasingly harsh repression by the Nazi occupiers of their native Holland.

The occasion of its premiere was made all the more poignant by the presence in the house of the real life couple whose extraordinary experiences in the 1940’s are faithfully retold here. Jaap and Ina Polok meet and are strongly attracted to one another. Jaap, however, is already married to Manja, portrayed here as Rudi, Ina’s former lover, appears from time interact as though the space between them has excessively flirtatious with other men, while to time as a creature of Ina’s imagination, somehow disappeared, the harmony becomes Ina is in a deep relationship with Rudi, who is at first urging her to survive, and eventually supportive and the music glistens. almost immediately carted away by the Nazis releasing her. His visitations are among the and never heard from again. most poignant scenes in the opera. Less There are effective choral passages as well. is seen of Manja, who remains something The chorus seems to have a double use. Although Manja is willing to grant Jaap of a nag throughout, and whose ultimate Sometimes it is simply the voices of Jaap and a divorce once the war is over, she and redeeming act takes place out of view and is Ina’s community. Other times, like a Greek eventually the other characters share a keen only understood in retrospect: her nursing her chorus, it appears to transcend the action and awareness that appearances must be kept husband back to life from a near-fatal case of pass judgment. A particularly strong choral up lest Nazi eyes notice the irregularities in typhoid fever just as liberation finally occurs, scene comes very late in the opera where their lives and use them as a basis for all the while knowing that she will give him lamentations are sung out during a Passover extreme punishment. up as soon as he is well again. seder. It staggers the imagination that people otherwise portrayed as barely surviving could In a quartet which is a highlight both Cohen, himself a cantor, writes extremely well sing out with such passion but never mind, musically and in plot clarification, Manja and for voice. The instrumental ensemble confronts the expressivity of the scene is transfiguring. Ina’s father convince Ina and Jaap that they his vocal lines as often as it magnifies them, This splendid choral outpouring is a parallel in must avoid being seen together. So Ina and appropriate, considering that the action takes Jaap’s imagination to Rudi’s visitations in Ina’s. Jaap stay separated, communicating through place within a hostile environment. When written notes (some of them written with the the characters are able to momentarily forget The performers were all solid. The staging, stolen pencil of the title) carried by an only that environment, as in a charming trio where by Beth Greenberg, was about as effective intermittently reliable courier, Lisette. the two separated lovers and their courier as could be managed without sets or a full

14 | New Music Connoisseur Volume 21, Issue 1 | 15 WHY probe? HT: Difficult question. At first or second AM: I thinkQ&A the kind of discourse the HT: OK, the “granite cliff” refers to my piece hearing I imagine the piece will be heard in its composer enters into when interacting Nothing Forgotten, specifically to the first own voice, carving some small niche in the with the producer of her/his music is full of movement subtitled “as if the granite were Excerpts(The from a conversationNature between Hilaryof Tann andComposi Arthur Margolin tion) continuum of your listening experiences. distinctions, hints, metaphors, etc. that are some half-forgotten spirit.”5. There’s no way However, if you wanted to hear the piece as I not practicable to convey statically in a one- I’d have composed this piece without that heard it while writing it, then the title and way piece of writing by you, to the seated title – the ff fifths of the opening (one side of AM: You’ve on a number of different HT: Two pieces come to mind. The first is AM: But what about my question? Bach’s program note would certainly come into play. listener. But in response to my listener- the granite gorge), the folk-like inner section occasions discussed how your pieces are evoked explicitly programmatic – the 2nd movement plaintive opening miraculously creates some oriented question you spoke about (the inhabitants with their history of loss), by and composed in response to what you call of Debussy’s La Mer, “Jeux de Vagues.” I see/ space that feels deep, within us, ultimately AM: I think that the idea of anyone ever performers and I’m wondering if that reflects and the pp return to the “half-forgotten “nature.” In fact, you’ve stated that you’re a hear no way that Debussy was not beyond words, unutterably profound. By hearing the piece the way a composer heard not evasion on your part, but is symptomatic spirits” of the other side. Furthermore, I “nature composer.” May I respectfully submit actually sonically imitating a particular sea/ contrast, it seems that nature-derived music it while writing it is not just conceptually of our different perspectives and beliefs. notice that I’m the type of person who S that that epithet is not particularly helpful to soundscape when he penned the evocative is almost always like the Debussy example, incomprehensible but also empirically collects rocks, and grasses, and minutiae … all me because the term seems to include just opening measures of this movement. The and finds its apotheosis in concretions of meaningless. I don’t think the abstractions HT: How could it not be so? I’m a composer of which carry a sense of place within them. about everything and to exclude just about second piece is the Bb minor fugue theme of increasing specificity – like Strauss’ bleating from our stream of consciousness that we call dealing in possible futures and sometimes In my daily life, almost all objects around me nothing. So what exactly are you telling me? Bach’s Well Tempered Klavier, Book I, #22 – a sheep in Don Quixote – displays of “experiences” are actually sharable, on either the void; you are a philosopher/theorist, “have meaning.” But I also note that there five-part fugue. Could anything be more remarkable skill to be sure, but are they not psychological or philosophical grounds3 dealing in the multifaceted nature of the are those for whom a rock is simply that – HT: The first thing that occurs to me is that, formal? But when I hear the minor 9th rise perhaps high-art novelty acts? (despite that fact that they’re usually pegged already created. (AM: Touché!) However, perhaps clutter – and a particular walk is just as a composer, I’ve given you, the listener, to Gb after the falling 4th from Bb, the to mutually observable external events, at there’s another dichotomy. I’ve noticed that exercise. I guess I’m talking about what haiku license to be visually and referentially whole world seems unutterably sad. I can HT: Imitating the wind and water on the least in principle; otherwise we could be some performers get somewhat irritated with poets would call “the interconnectedness of imaginative when you hear my music. For me, imagine using that 4th/9th succession as part waves and all the tremulousness it suggests describing something rather disconcerting 4). my “nature-speak.” They say “simply tell us – things,” a concept deeply embedded in the the title is very often a guide to the leading of a nature image in my own work. is a completely different level of response Your idea of the way your titles can function do you want this louder or softer?” And I have Zenbased view of the world. For those of us idea of the piece, and I would like the listener than simply playing at musical-photographs seems to way over-determine people’s a problem answering them. I want to who see the world this way, titles carry freight to enjoy the growth process while listening as AM: I asked about composers and you’ve like a children’s game. I don’t make the interpretation of those words. Besides, even if say, play it just loudly enough to stand out in way beyond their surface meanings. The title much as I did while writing. responded from the vantage point of a creative journey into a particular landscape listeners did have a similar experience as this landscape, but do not put yourselves contributes to what is particular and unique listener, so let’s go with that for now. I simply to imitate its surface features. The yours, you’re never going to know about it – center-stage, do not orate, do not give in the piece. It is the lens through which the piece may best be heard. I judge my own AM: It seems then that for you the seed wonder if certain pieces, such as the Bach landscape is not a soundscape, though after all, you don’t interview each listener speeches. For me as a composer the notational work by its faithfulness to this vision and I idea for a piece of music – an auditory entity example, touch us deeply because they it is my hope that the landscape and my after the concert. So, I’m wondering if the language of music is not sufficiently precise. expect to be judged by others in this way. – is expressed, title-wise, using a non-auditory reveal to us something that we hadn’t soundscape will share a deeper connection, idea of listeners “sharing” your experience, Even Bach relied on a shared wealth of affect What is dull and ordinary to you is vital and referent. There may be many composers experienced before, that we even hadn’t one that will resonate 3 with my listener – with the implication that you might be to carry his music forward. extraordinary to me. that will object to that on various grounds. known to exist before? (Which points to the hence my title/subtitle and program note. “inducing” such an experience in them, is an Most immediately I think of our teacher and problems of using words like “sadness” to Indeed, even if a listener has not read the instance of a not unfamiliar brand of AM: I have to admit that what I find most friend Jim Randall, who has written a little describe it, but that’s a whole other topic.) program note – easy enough in these mp3 megalomania that many artists seem to be troublesome about your view is the AM: That’s an astonishing statement! – that essay called “titles” which is all about why he I’m suggesting this is a categorically different download days – I hope that s/he will “hear” prone to, however gentle the impingement in usurpation of specific musical qualities of the the “validity” and “worth” of your music, 4 eschews for his pieces titles that have the and immeasurably richer experience than we the title nevertheless. your case. piece of music with generic nature-derived for you, is founded on how an unaccountably slightest chance of literal application.1 So, derive from the Debussy example, in which imagery. When I listen to a piece of music, I diverse group of anonymous others you’re placing yourself within a subset of music is imitative of known phenomena. AM: I have a problem with the notion of HT: When I talk about my music I’m most want to revel in its uniquely constructed, perceives it, or more accurately, alleges how composers for whom the imagery is not only “hearing the title.” Are you saying that the often talking with performers. During the and engendered, auditory qualities. So I they have perceived it? Moreover, all this non-objectionable but somehow facilitates HT: In the mid-1980s I went to a concert meaning of your music for a listener is rehearsal process many performers respond wonder how some imagery, of say, a granite rests on a title you’ve affixed to it, whose both the compositional and listening that changed my life. I heard a shakuhachi crucially dependent upon the – what I would well to my descriptions of moments of cliff, which seems (excuse me), rather interpretation by anyone in particular you’ll experiences. How would you differentiate master perform a honkyoku, one of the solo, consider to be – extra-musical content, continuity with reference to the “underlying commonplace, is going to in any way enhance never know. I must admit this sounds like a between these two different groups meditative pieces, many of which contain imagery implied by or contained in the title? often-nature-derived subtext” (to use my reception of that music. As a musician, I’m most painful path to self-validation. How is of composers? natural references to wind, waterfalls … I think I’m a counter-example, because I’ve your terms). alive to the particularities of sound in music, the ascertainment of these experiences Learning these pieces opened up a whole listened to much of your music while, I have but I have no special abilities as a viewer, or supposed to take place? new musical language for me. 2 to confess, barely attending to the titles, and imaginer, of granite cliffs. Why should the5 have found it to be eminently comprehensible ordinary attenuate or even supplant what is nevertheless. Was I missing something? to me the extraordinary? (AM to HT: I think this is the crux of the matter.)

16 | New Music Connoisseur Volume 21, Issue 1 | 17 WHY probe? (The Nature of Composition) cont.

HT: As I said earlier, from a sense of “the HT: Two years ago I was asked to contribute Notes: interconnectedness of things”. Some years a piece to the Milton Babbitt Composers’ 1 Randall, J. K. “titles”, liner notes to Open ago a violist told me that playing my music Memorial in Perspectives of New Music / Open Space CD 22, ars antiqua, a garland of midi was like “being in a landscape.” I cannot Space.8. As a composer with a fully developed 2. Tann, H, 1989. “Coming to Terms: imagine a more appropriate response to non-serial nature-derived syntax, I asked (Futaiken) Reibo” Perspectives of New what I am trying to do. In the words (which myself how to honor Milton’s life’s work. In Music, XXVII #2, “Legacy” pp. 68-69 I’ve set) of Welsh poet, R. S. Thomas, “It the end I took the first four measures of his 3. Cf. Boretz, B. A. “The Universe of One,” was like a church to me/ I entered it on soft groundbreaking 1950 Composition for Viola The Open Space Magazine, 15/16 Fall foot,/ Breath held like a cap in the hand. / and Piano and slowed down the durations. 2013/Winter 2014 It was quiet.” (The Moor) 6. This reverential, At this speed, the piece contained winning 4. Margolin, A. “Personifications.” The Open even sacred, sense of “nature” is like the thirds, and the pp-p-pp dynamics of Babbitt’s Space Magazine. Issue 12/13, fall “nature” of the development section of the first measure suggested a wave-like swell. 2010/winter 2011, 208-218 first movement of Beethoven’s 6th. In musical Gerard Manley Hopkins’ sonnet, “The Sea 5. Tann, H. Nothing Forgotten, North/South terms, it is a language of slow evolution, and The Skylark,” came to mind. With this Recordings 1027, also Deux-Elles DXL 1132 substantive silence (ma 7.), a respect for the “resonant image” I could get to work and the 6. Thomas, R. S. “The Moor” Collected Poems DNA signature of the smallest musical ideas result is a homage titled “On Ear and Ear.” I 1945-1990, Phoenix Press, Pietà (1966); (simple triads in Beethoven’s case), a wave- can only write from what works for me as a also, Tann, H. “The Moor” (for treble choir), like rise and fall of smaller and larger formal source of inspiration – the rest is up to the Oxford University Press elements (the joha-kyû curve of the Japanese performer and listener. 7. Cronin, T. and Tann, H. 1989. “Afterword: aesthetic 2.). Tôru Takemitsu with Tania Cronin and AM: So for you a nature-derived image is an Hilary Tann” Perspectives of New Music, AM: Let’s say that you have before you an indispensable pre-condition for writing a XXVII #2, pp. 212-213 eager soon-to-be-listener to one of your piece of music. 8. Tann, H. On Ear and Ear, Perspectives of pieces, who has read or has been told your New Music 49/2 Supplement: Milton Babbitt: A Composers’ Memorial nature-derived title. What are the mental HT: Yes, absolutely.  operations you would want this listener to execute in the presence of your music?

“Some years ago a violist told me that playing my music was like being in a landscape.”

18 | New Music Connoisseur Volume 21, Issue 1 | 19 (with occasional touches of Liszt and flavorings journey. And like the movie Memento with little spurts of intervals that gradually find But since Thompson and Alyce naturally tell The Music of Elgar). The title disguises a tongue-in-cheek its scenes in reverse order, Gerber flipped the their way to sustained melodies. Variations, their story to Philbott in the past tense while of Godfrey premise – the theme in question is Jingle Bells, chronological order of his works so that as we the earliest piece on the CD, has a nice opera demands real-time action, Cipullo’s although its rendition is unlike any you’ll hear in go forwards in the CD we go backwards in spunkiness but nevertheless comes off as a solution was to have a younger and older Winham Christmas season Muzak or commercials – but time – all the way to 1971 – and discover his student effort. version of each character. Older Thompson and [Albany TROY1408] also promises a seriousness of purpose worthy aesthetic evolution in reverse. There’s beautiful Older Alyce do most of the reminiscing while of a lengthy work (almost half an hour). It and enticing music all along the path. For an encore, we get Cocktail Music (Song the Younger Thompson and Younger Alyce By Mark Zuckerman soon gets past the joke, which is never played Without Words), a little bonbon to send us usually act out what is being reminisced about for laughs or easy effect, into the realm of Gerber happens to be an excellent pianist who on our way after a delightful evening chez (at least at the beginning). Cipullo’s subtle extensions to the style and idioms of the delivers steely attacks, delicate colors, rich, Gerber. (It would have been a fun “hidden interweaving of each pair – often culminating aforementioned composers, convincingly and deep sonorities and endless legato as needed. track,” back in the days when you could in their singing together – adds a wonderful with conviction. There’s an impetuousness to his playing that actually hide a track.) multidimensional and kaleidoscopic quality to perfectly matches the composing. Also worth the opera. For example, here’s the opening: The CD closes with NP, a set of two short mentioning: the piano is nicely close up in the This is an album that keeps growing on me. computer pieces the jewel case insert dates recording; we hear every nuance but without My wish is that Gerber is busy knocking out OLDER THOMPSON: It didn’t matter… from the early 1970s but was initially realized any buzzes, clicks or thumps. material for a Volume Two and won’t make whatever I did. much earlier (the liner notes by Benjamin Boretz us wait another forty-two years for it! YOUNGER THOMPSON: It doesn’t matter, credits this as probably the first piece composed The CD opens with Three Little Duets; whatever I do. for computer performance, referencing liner that is, duets between the left and right OLDER THOMPSON: I had some intelligence notes from its CRI LP release). The title, an hand. Though these inspired little bursts of training, so I understood what they abbreviation for “nondeterministic polynomial Tom Cipullo: polytonal/modal writing owe something to were doing. time,” is from computational complexity Bartok’s Mikrokosmos, they create a genre all Glory Denied YOUNGER THOMPSON: But even knowing, theory, and its use here is somewhat tongue- their own, something between an invention [Albany TROY1433] I can’t change it. in-cheek in the manner of many titles by Milton and bagatelle. Unfortunately, just as we get OLDER THOMPSON: That’s the Hell of it… Babbitt, a fellow Princetonian and friend. NP’s Nearly 40 years have elapsed since Hodgkin’s settled in, the three minute-long pieces are By Matthew Harris instrumental vocabulary is similar to some disease claimed the life of composer Godfrey over. How nice it would have been to hear at Documents included in Philbott’s book also of Babbitt’s RCA Synthesizer pieces, but the Winham (1934-1975). Born to an aristocratic least a dozen, especially since they represent make up a good part of the libretto (Alyce’s musical basis is decidedly Winham’s. British family, Winham was educated at the Gerber’s latest work and he’s clearly at the letters to Jim, the military’s letters to Alyce, Westminster School and the Royal Academy Winham’s two sons, Baird and Chris, served as top of his game. government statements, etc.) and effectively of Music before coming to the United States editing and recording engineers, respectively, put us in the moment. Yet certain lines, to study music at Princeton University, where on this CD. Next, Two Intermezzi introduces us to whether from a document or interview, take he earned its first Ph.D. in music composition. Gerber’s signature piano sound: a vast sonic on a ghostly presence by their repetition He was not just a composer: a prolific writer canvas consisting of a melody in the two throughout the opera. of music criticism and essays on music theory Steven R. outer registers and chords in the middle. The and a pioneer in computer sound and speech first Intermezzo, Improvisation, shimmers with Act I begins with Col. Thompson a tortured synthesis, he was also expert in philosophy, Gerber: (Mostly) beautiful arpeggiated harmonies, the second, prisoner of the Viet Cong while Alyce lovingly mathematics, and computer science (as well as Solo Piano Homage, is joyfully eccentric. writes to him, unaware of the situation. a master at poker, bridge, chess, and go). (Unfortunately, we never see this couple in His music has a distinctive voice and an Music The Piano Sonata is grand and engaging in its their pre-tragedy state, yet that’s the baseline inherent integrity, the more remarkable because [Albany TROY1416] first movement, Fantasy: Homage to Copland. from which we’re to measure everything his catalog is so small. With four pieces, a new But the Scherzo never really takes off and the that happens to them and why we should Albany CD (The Music of Godfrey Winham) By Matthew Harris final Variations on a Ground slowly meanders If you like your contemporary operas “ripped care.) The music here is declarative, motivic presents about a third of his output. instead of wrapping things up. from the headlines,” you probably still take it and fragmented, adroitly switching between as given that those gritty, real-life characters Jim’s martial, dissonant material and Alyce’s Two of the works, both from the late 1950s, Gerber then hands things over to violinist will sing in finely-crafted verse. For instance, lyricism. In Act II, when Jim returns after his feature voice: The Habit of Perfection, for Gregory Fulkerson and pianist Jennifer Rinehart in New York City Opera’s swan song, Anna nine-year ordeal only to find Alyce remarried, soprano and string quartet with poetry by to play his Duo in Three Movements. This is Nicole, rhymed couplets ruled the day. actual arias with extended melodies enter Gerard Manley Hopkins, and To Prove My the hidden gem you’re always hoping to find into the mix. Cipullo briefly breaks from his Love, a cycle of three Shakespeare sonnets for when attending a concert of contemporary Tom Cipullo’s Glory Denied (2006), however, pre-existing libretto concept to give Jim a soprano and piano composed for Winham’s works you don’t know. It’s sizzling bravura is a two-act chamber opera that lets real-life fast-paced aria about how the country has wife, soprano Bethany Beardslee. Both of writing, wickedly inventive, at once playful characters speak in their own words. This changed (think Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start the these modernist pieces demonstrate a fluency, and dramatic in an Elliott Carter sort of way. fresh approach has gained Glory Denied a Fire): “Teflon cookware, men with long hair, lyricism, and rhetorical assurance reminiscent And these performers are equal to the task; good bit of success, including this excellent stay-pressed shirts, mini- skirts…”. of Nikos Skalkottas (a composer Winham Fulkerson shreds through this thing like a recording by the Fort Worth Opera Festival. admired), though with a different personality. demon. A mesmerizing slow movement briefly Older Alyce’s tender “After you hear me The text settings are elegantly simple and interrupts the cascade of trills, tremolos, Cipullo fashioned his libretto from Tom out,” is beautifully sung by Caroline Worra, eloquent readings of the poetry. scorrevole and quick pizzicato runs. Philbott’s 2001 book, Glory Denied: The Saga who is equally good as the tough broad Variations on a Theme by James Pierpont, the Steven R. Gerber, a New York City composer of Vietnam Veteran Jim Thompson, America’s Alyce later becomes. Sydney Mancasola’s last piece Winham finished, is a homage to with many orchestral, chamber and vocal Gerber returns to the piano for his Voices Longest-Held Prisoner of War. In it, Philbott sweet soprano perfectly captures the Younger Romantic virtuoso piano pieces, principally works to his credit, recently released this and Variations for Piano, two rigorous serial interviews Col. Thompson and the people who Alyce’s all-American girl persona. Tenor David those by Schubert, Schumann, and Brahms album of his piano music with the composer works from the seventies. Voices opens with make up his past, especially ex-wife Alyce. Blalock as Younger Thompson sings clearly at the piano. It covers a forty-two year artistic

20 | New| NewMusic Music Connoisseur Connoisseur Volume 21, Issue 1 | 21 and beautifully, and thrills in “The Lord is my (the fifth also being the freest), and the sixth phrases and even tempo throughout. is so concise you’d think it was a piano roll. Listen on YouTube: there’s a piece of his for shepherd.” Baritone Michael Mayes excels as Frederic Rzewski’s recapitulates, in such a way that the first stage The fifth variation (dreamlike, frozen) is And she’s the only one of the five pianists player piano called Circus Galop. It’s a Coney a gruff and world-weary Col. Thompson. THE PEOPLE UNITED is a summary of all the preceding first stages, played with very careful and subtle extended- who plays the true length (all 30”) of the Island Cyclone: a hair-raising Godowsky-on- the second a summary of the second stages, technique pedal effects (the pedal catches the cadential repeated tremolo with both hands. steroids-meets-Nancarrow-on-steroids. Conductor Tyson Deaton keeps the dramatic WILL NEVER BE and so on. after vibrations of loud attacks as harmonics). (It’s a B flat three octaves above middle C – tension high and the forward motion strong, DEFEATED accelerando going to a ritardando and, at Typically for him, Hamelin plays the opening not letting the stream-of-consciousness and Two songs, aside from the theme itself, The CD sound is somewhat drier over-all than the same time, a ff crescendo-ing to ffff then The People United theme with a romantic nonlinear aspects of the opera sidetrack him; Four Reviews appear at various points: the Italian Marc Andre-Hamelin’s version but the miking decrescendo-ing to a PPPP) sweep. His first variation is less dry than he was ably assisted by the nine soloists in revolutionary song Bandiera Rossa, in is just as close. (Killerich’s version tends to be in Oppens’s. The over-all sound is rich, deep, the pit. By Andrew Violette reference to the Italian people who in the the middle. The Hamelin is very wet, ultra- In variation 26 (in a militant manner), which resonant. The piano is very closely miked. seventies opened their doors to so many resonant and very closely and luxuriously miked. she plays like Shostokovich, she gets the long, The reverb is carnal. Glory Denied is a nontraditional opera that refugees from Chiliean fascism; and Hans Takahashi’s miking almost doesn’t matter – so upward arch of the unwavering melodic line delivers the gripping drama we expect from Ursula Oppens The Eisler’s 1932 antifascist Solidaritätslied, a forceful is his presentation.) toward the midpoint of variation 27 (tenderly, He plays variation 3 (with expressive nuances a traditional one. And for those who still buy People United Will reminder that “parallels to present threats and with a hopeful expression). Here her – sustaining some notes ad lib beyond physical compacts discs, you’ll be pleased Never Be Defeated exist in the past and that it is important to Oppens’s interpretation remains an piano is always a true piano; her forte is notated durations) with big pedal. Hamelin to know this is a full-length opera that’s just learn from them.” introspective, somewhat understated always a true forte. Her mezzo-forte clearly takes to heart the Busoni maxim: short enough to fit on one disc. [Vanguard Classics OVC 8056] performance. She tends to flatten the climaxes is perfectly mezzo-forte. The pedal is the heart of the piano. Hamelin So there we are: 36 bars to the theme, 36 but she also plays close attention to the details. pedals with unusual finesse. Marc-Andre Hamelin variations, in 6 groups of 6. But she’s not self-indulgent. She doesn’t get In variation 7 (lightly, impatiently) she nails the caught up in the pianistic moment. Therefore, Variations 6 and 7 are a Friedman’s Music Box 36 Variations on In American Music in the 20th Century Kyle breezy scherzando quality and plays it like a in variation 28, in the yearning mezzo-forte of sound, with dramatic contrast between the f “The People United Gann notes that The People United has “a Conlon Nancarrow piano roll. passage, I wanted her to take a more soaring, tree corde chords and the pp una corda chords. Will Never Be range of styles that encompasses jazz, modal romantic approach – but she eschews that as quasi-improvisation, serialist fragmentation, In the ninth variation there’s a real contrast superfluous. Of course, she’s right. Though variation 8 (with agility; not too much Defeated” minimalist patterns, Romantic climaxes, and between pp and ppp and a true differentiation pedal; crisp) is not as clear as the Oppens, he [Hyperion CDA67077] Ivesian texture layering.” Everyone wants to between the una corda pedal and the tre corde Variation 32, technically hairy, is flawlessly makes the piano ring out with great color, play the piece. There are many recordings. pedal passages. In general she plays all this executed; ditto the big double-octaves in like Horowitz. Here’s an overview of the interpretations of 5 with clarity and pristine grace. All the lines are variation 36. As one would expect from such Yuji Takahashi The very different approaches: differentiated although juxtaposed. Nothing a classic approach (“just the facts, mister.”) His massive glissandi sweeps in variation 10 People United Will gets in the way of delineating the structure. We Oppens doesn’t take the optional five minute (comodo, recklessly) are like molten chocolate. Ursula Oppens came out with the premiere hear this contrapuntal integrity work itself out cadenza at the end of the thirty sixth variation Lisztian are the repeated notes and trills. Never Be Defeated recording of the piece. Rzewski wrote it for her. in variation 13. (right before the recap of the main theme). [ALM ALCD 49] (She commissioned it as a companion piece to She’s not a composer. Yet her phrases up to He takes many more agogic accents than Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations, premiered it in (I believe her careful attention to contrapuntal that point are so well timed that variation 36 Oppens in variation 13. His trills are intense Ole Kiilerich The 1976 and recorded the piece in 1979.) She has line is the result of her work with Elliott Carter. flows into the recap like…”well, of course, and lightning-fast. The cadenza which closes formidable technique. As a Carter student myself, I can personally that’s the way it’s supposed to be played.” the variation is like a page out of the slow People United Will attest that he was a stickler for maintaining the movement of Ive’s Concord. Never Be Defeated But that’s a given for all internationally-known independence of lines by means of dynamic and Her version comes in at a little under [Bridge 9392] pianists. What is uniquely hers and what textural variation.) 50 minutes. In the fifteenth variation, like Ursula Oppens, she uniquely brings to the table is decades every note is carefully placed but here each The People United theme emerged from the of experience working with composers, Unexpectedly for a classically trained pianist, I respect Ursula Oppens’s performance. But I note is also pearly. Hamelin is a master of color. United Popular Coalition in Chile (1969- decades of intimate pianistic knowledge of she’s the only one of the five pianists who plays love Marc Andre Hamelin’s. He’s the pianist’s 1973) before the overthrow of the Salvador contemporary music. variations 14 (a bit faster, optimistically) and 15 pianist who plays the big war-horses in the He builds to a tremendous climax in variation Allende government. Frederic Rzewski (flexible, like an improvisation) with a true jazz grand manner, a brainy Lang Lang. 16 – but without any bombast. Then goes composed the piece (September to October As you would expect, this first recording touch (that is, with an uninflected, off the cuff on to give a real musical arch in the freely 1975) as a tribute to the Chilean people. probably remains truest to the score. Through phrasing). She skillfully cuts between sotto voce He’s made his name with his seminal improvisatory right hand of variation 17. the Oppens-lens every bar, every passage, fingered staccato phrases and on the surface recordings of Sorabji, Godowsky and Alkan. According to the composer’s program every section serves the greater good of the fingered legato. He plays these knuckle-breaking works with Suddenly, another thunderous climax in the notes, “The People United is a series of 6 whole. Everything comes together to create considerable power and spot-on accuracy. following variation and, just as suddenly, cycles, each of which consists of 6 stages, in a unified performance of structural integrity. In the next variation, 16, (same tempo as Eventually he branched out from a specialist he backs off to a mezzo-forte. This is which different musical relationships appear This general faithfulness to the score and preceding, with fluctuations) she holds back of the lesser known high-romantic composers pianistic male preening in the concert jungle: in order: 1) Simple events 2) Rhythms 3) faithfulness to the spirit of the composer is so on the big fortissimo moment (expansive, with (Roslavets, Catoire, Medtner) to a pianist accomplished, exciting, in your face. Melodies 4) Counterpoints 5) Harmonies 6) integral to her performance that her playing on a victorious feeling). She doesn’t let the grand interpreting the moderns, including Combinations of all these. Each of the larger the CD seems like…..”well, that’s just the way gesture impede the flow of the over-all form. Frederic Rzewski. Variation 19 brings a wetter sound, cycles develops a character suggested by the the piece goes”. particularly in the hugely-resonating live individual stage to which it corresponds, so Variations 19 (with energy) and 20 (crisp, As a composer he’s under-rated. Every student silences. In the Hamelin version of variation that the third cycle is lyrical, the fourth tends In the first variations (weaving: delicate but firm) precise) are so clear that every note is set pianist ought to learn Hamelin’s Etudes, just 20-21 each Rachmaninov-phrase is grunted toward conflict, the fifth toward simultaneity Oppens keeps a tight rein on the pedal. You can like the facets of a diamond. The trill section as they learn the Chopin and the Ligeti Etudes out toward a frenetic climax in variation 23 hear this in the crisp staccatos, well manicured in variation 21 (relentless, uncompromising) in their little cubicles.

22 | New Music Connoisseur Volume 21, Issue 1 | 23 (as fast as possible, with some rubato). seemed as if he played the whole piece as themes. It’s surprisingly austere for a cadenza. He passes through the big moments in the Plum Tree”: “not competing for spring/ extra-curricular effects, as if he grew up with He thrillingly executes the Bb cadenza in one long improv. I also noticed that he tends Then down a spiral of circular fifths he goes, variation 16 neither slowing down nor only calling that it is coming/when mountain them, which he did. variation 24 and, in the twenty-fifth variation, to play with a flatter hand than most, almost finishing with a grand account of the theme speeding up. He not so much ignores the flowers are in full bloom/be among them he catches more of the after-note harmonics approaching Glenn Gould, though his piano in left hand octaves and strongly accented high pianistic points as tames them with his smiling”. Now many people play them so I It’s slightly muddy and slow in the midpoint of than Oppens. He comes down on the pedal a stool is at normal height. phrases. Diminuendo poco a poco, morendo unyielding, dance-like beat. don’t have to do those works anymore. It variation 13 and the moderate tempo variation millisecond sooner. This is a good example of to a fine pp, he cadences on an almost should be so - music will be passed to the 15 is almost too carefully placed. There’s a the difference between the two: the Oppens In the first variation the composer disregards imperceptible, off the cuff, dominant to tonic Whereas Oppens’s interpretation says This new generation. If the same people had nice pianissimo in the next variation, phrases and the Hamelin approach. many of the staccatos opting for a strongly link to the recap. He plays the recap theme is the way it’s supposed to be played, and continued to play the same music, those shaped almost as if he were playing Skriabin. rhythmic interpretation. The molto marcato nonchalantly, almost like an after-thought. Hamelin’s interpretation says Look at this! works would not survive.” But the groupings in the seventeenth variation Variation 27 sees a poetic, Schumann-esque effect is striking. Look at this! Look at this!, Takahashi’s playing lacked the impulse to move ahead and I heard interpretation with big aggregates of sound It’s riveting. proclaims This is the way I see the variations This brings us to the new generation, Danish almost no differentiation of touch. yet also intimate sotto voce effects. (By the He plays variation 3 with more rubato than linking up. Deal with it. Startling! pianist Ole Kiilerich, recorded on Bridge. He way, he’s the only performer to ad lib a four- anyone else. In general he takes more rhythmic Yuji Takahashi gives a wild, instantly You really hear all these things – the steady studied with Ursula Oppens and Seymour I wanted more accentuation throughout, more measure repeat [page 62 of the score] in freedom than anyone else. But, once again, it’s a recognizable performance of the piece, which beat, the dead-on accuracy, the forceful Lipkin and his work reflects this. It’s carefully rhythmic drive in the nineteenth variation – this variation.) live performance. It can’t be compared with the he recorded in 1978. Like Hamelin, Takahashi’s interpretation – in variations 20-23. He delineated with sharp attention to details. though it was certainly accurate. But he nicely edited CDs and, after all, he is the composer. a composer/pianist. He studied with Xenakis takes the repeated notes incredibly fast. shapes the crescendo – decrescendo quasi Witness the subtle, almond-rich color of (who wrote Herma and Eonta for the pianist). It’s all extremely virtuosic but without calling He plays the opening theme with the least tremolo in variation 21 and solidly brings out variation 28. Observe how finely he shapes the At the end of the fourth variation the difference As a composer he has followed his teacher’s attention to itself. And it’s extremely musically swinging triplet (the composer’s is the most), the theme in variation 20. Chopin-like grace-note phrases in the opening between broadening slightly to a little slower, stochastic procedures. Takahashi was definitely coherent. This guy’s an animal. almost matter-of-fact. of variation 30. Hear how he works toward a violently to gathering speed and finally poco rit part of the European Kontarsky/Tudor crowd Kiilerich takes the cadenza. It opens with static, massive cadenza in variation 31. is greatly marked. I could hear these things. (He in the 60s and 70s – exponents of the most Like the composer, Takahashi plays the slow He’s careful in variation 2, not as dry as triadic harmony in the bass. He juxtaposes this slows down the tempo.). difficult of the difficult new music. He has section before variations 25 daringly slow, with Oppens but drier in sound than the Hamelin with colorful upper register configurations. This In variation 35 the thirty-second note octaves recorded the complete piano works of the daringly long pauses. recording. In general, I’d characterize his leads to an opening-up of mid-range, two part and chordal passages are so sharp it gave Of all the pianists he’s the least broad in his Second Viennese School. He’s recorded the work as mid-range. On this CD the mic seems counterpoint with double and triple trills. This meaning to the phrase “It took my breath dynamic differentiation, the least interested in complete piano music of Messiaen, Roger The minimalist section in A minor (from further away than the others. It lacks “bite.” leads to a Bartokian low, staccato version of away” while perusing the score. Yet he dares touch for the sake of touch. He doesn’t need it. Reynolds, Satie, Zorn, and Gubaidulina. In the variation 27) is more deliberate than most, The Steinway D sounds a bit dull in the lower the People United theme which eventually gives to play the very slow chordal section ending He plays like no one else. early 60s he premiered the big Toru Takemitsu with an inner expression, and crystal clear. register. I would have wanted the piano’s way to a romantically arpeggiated left hand variation 36 very, very slowly and with a works: Piano Distance, Corona, and Arc. When the opening material recaps it’s obvious. upper register tuned somewhat more bright. with right hand Rachmoninov-chords. Back haunting majesty. When, in variation 11, he slams the keyboard You can hear it. So unified is his conception of The sound sometimes seems over-processed. he goes again to the 2 part counterpoint in a lid while he’s playing a chord (he and Kiilerich From the way he first plays the theme to the the piece that it’s as if the form just falls into final “album leaf” moment. It’s a tapestry of He takes the cadenza, of course. After all, are the only ones to do this) it’s a spectacular, way he leads right into the carefully crafted place of its own accord. I also would have liked a more sustained glittering chords, dynamics and attacks which he’s a composer/pianist of considerable heft. jarring effect. first variation, you get a sense of a non-fussy cantabile in the upper register in variation 3. flows nicely into the final recap of the theme. Given his reputation as the man-with-the- but driving interpretation of great sweep. He gives the twenty-eighth variation a The seventh variation is nicely played with a chops one would have thought he would Of all the pianists, in Rzewski’s hands the golden glow. very light, very clear sound. Generally, he plays as if he wants to get have taken the virtuosic route. But no, this is fifteenth variation really does sound like the Variation 2 has a real firmness. He plays the everything right. Sometimes I get the feeling a poetic and introspective contrast to all that improvisation it was meant to be. technically challenging middle-section of the The manic variation 34 has a controlled The more placid variation 8 lacks energy and that he does not quite understand how one has come before. third variation like it’s nothing. This guy’s got intensity. forward impulse. phrase builds upon another, how one phrase And, though he takes the next variation chops to spare. links to the next. It’s as if he longs so much to He opens with sustained whole-tone considerably slower than anyone else, I began It’s said he improvised the cadenza on the spot And why did he have to lift the pedal before the be a good citizen, to get every separate phrase harmonies, uncommon to the Rzewski palette, to hear things I didn’t hear in the other I was struck by the no-pedal clarity of variation during the recording. It’s an Ivesian collage, start of variation 9? In general he views each perfect, that he forgets how they link up to the which eventually give way to the theme in the performances: the way all the voices came 6. Again and again he achieves structural sense filled with pedal effects and Skriabin-like trills. variation as a discrete entity whereas the others whole big picture. bass in massive chords. These are contrasted together in a prog-jazz sound. He played the by an even tempo. You can hear the recap of It’s not long, more like an extended fermata. link all the variations in an ascending arc. with clouds of swirling high notes – soft, in the upwardly arpeggiated chords in a downright all that came before it in variation 5. Then there are the occasions when the timing mid-range of the piano. He recaps much of the cranky manner. He slips smoothly into the recap which he plays Variation 10 is more solid, less playful than is woefully off. For instance, does there really Russian Constructivist march material, though He plays the tenth variation Berio Sequenza with a verve almost like a tune by Gershwin. Rzewski’s live performance and considerably have to be such a gap between variations 5 with altered rhythms and chords. He layers He takes more agogic accents than anyone else. style: no nonsense, rhythmically dead- on. less virtuosic than Hamelin’s. and 6? Likewise, the pause before variation mountains of glissandi, heavy bass trills and This is really evident in the climax of variation 18. The was the last period before the pianist 33 is so long the piece comes to a dead stop. tremolos, all in full pianistic sonority. Subito He never whistles, slams the lid or gives out a changed his career profile. Yuji Takahashi writes: He’s the only pianist other than the composer piano! and back into the Theme recap without Variation 20 is the slowest, most laid-back, cry. They’re all optional anyway and the who slams the lid down in variation 11 and Timing problems don’t happen with the other missing a beat. It’s just another Hamelin rabbit- almost a non-virtuosic interpretation. The slow Japanese pianist/composer will have none of “I think there is a time when one has to the only pianist to emit the optional vocal pianists. Oppens, Hamelin, Takahashi and out-of-hat trick. chords ending variation 24 are the slowest of those American histrionics. do certain things, not only in life, but also cry. It’s truly terrifying. It’s unforgettable. (He Rzewski: they’re all older, more seasoned. slow with daringly long fermatas. This man in music. In the 1960s, I was one of very cries out again in variation 35 and it’s still They are all big personalities with each a On YouTube there’s a video of Frederic takes risks. In variations 13 and 14 he highlights what’s few pianists in Europe who played Xenakis, startling.) He’s the only pianist to take the distinct point of view sharpened by decades Rzewski’s own performance, played live from necessary and subdues everything else – just as Boulez, Messiaen and Cage. I translated and optional sung middle C in the same variation long dog-fighting in the concert hall. a score with very tiny notes and no page Of course he takes a cadenza. Upward marcato you would play Sorabji. published Xenakis’ book, Maceda’s book, 35. Of all the pianists he shapes the optional turner. Yes, it’s got a few passages which are (then dolce) perfect fourths in all registers sound introduced Gubaidulina to Japan. Now whistling the best. I love the portamento that fluffed but hey! it’s a live performance. The with triadic harmonies. Then there’s a mid-range Finally, variation 15 really does sound like a other people take over. I consider myself a ends his whistle-phrase. Of all the pianists he’s piano is ultra-bright. Watching the video, it of two, sometimes three, partly chordal but jazz improv. pioneer. As Mao the poet said in his “Ode to probably the most comfortable with these mostly contrapuntal motific reworking on the

24 | New Music Connoisseur Volume 21, Issue 1 | 25 Puzzle

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the way, more like a psychoanalytic session On the other hand, his passing mentions of being written now by the whole community in which the roles are reversed, that is, the living masters might be questioned by those of ‘avant-garde’ composers.” Perhaps he even analyst does all the talking. And boy, does he! who assumed his relationships with them included Pierre Boulez among them. But in In response to Cott’s judiciously relevant but were far from serene. In response to the his final six years alone he performed, among sometimes provocative questions, Lenny talks question, ”Didn’t he [Karajan] ask you if you other modern works, the Seventh Symphony about every subject under the sun, from music would take over the Berlin?,” Lenny said, of Shostakovich, David Diamond’s Ninth and composing (of course) to politics, “Karajan on his deathbed begged me – three Symphony, Charles Ives’ The Unanswered sexuality, marriage, maternity, reincarnation, times – Lenny, they want you, they need Question (with James Levine as co-conductor Freudianism, depression, mortality, critics, you, they love you, you’re the only one!” in a novel seating arrangement), Benjamin charisma, social trends, poverty, technology, Well, who are we to challenge his words, or Britten’s “Four Sea Interludes” from Peter education, language, Jewish lore, memory, his memory, yet the conventional wisdom Grimes and several of his own works, intellectualism, narcissism, exhibitionism, indicates that the two conductors were including Halil, Serenade, Prayer, and anagrams, use of the word “should”, meaning bitter rivals and that they had made some Symphonic Dances from West Side Story. of the word “play” and, very often, the sort of agreement to stay out of each other’s In 1963, at the opening of Lincoln Center, meaning of love. (They are all there in the territory. We do know for a fact that L.B., at he conducted the Philharmonic in Aaron excellent index.) Whether it was through the invitation of the orchestra’s members, not Copland’s Connotations for Orchestra, a

reviews the generous pouring of wine or simply the Karajan, conducted the Berlin in an historic relatively atonal work from the master of interviewer’s waiting his turn to really open performance of Mahler’s Ninth, and that this the “American sound.” But Lenny knew up, Cott, the author of some 16 books, only was the only time he ever led the Berlin. his friends’ capabilities well, and he praised became a full partner in the conversation many Copland for always sounding like Copland no hours after it began, revealing an inordinate If the professional journalists, critics, and matter what language he used. I am sure I was not the only music lover who amount of knowledge about all of the subjects observers tended to dismiss Lenny’s rhetoric THE “PEOPLE’S felt a pang of disbelief upon hearing of the Lenny himself swung into as he steered the as a lot of overblown bluster, many an A number of his comments on composing MAESTRO” AT death of Leonard Bernstein in 1990. Lenny conversation in his own inimitable way. By average streetwalker would agree with his appear in Leonard Bernstein at Work. About THE END OF A dead? How could it be? He was a very part of the tenth hour or so, they were both quoting observation that the shortened attention the symphonic dances, active composers, us, or, maybe, he wasn’t quite that, but more passages from great literature with impressive span of today’s youth is a big problem. Or especially, will be interested to read what LONG CAREER like a rare but recognizable bird that soars ease. So the interviewer could hardly be seen why we have become obsessed with instant he had to say: “I’ve never seen the score above the humdrum of everyday life. as a simple onlooker; the result of this tête-a- gratification. Or even that the biggest crook [for West Side Story], actually. I’ve seen only By Barry L. Cohen Well okay, he certainly was/is an immortal, tête makes for a thoroughly absorbing read. ever was Richard M. Nixon. He talks about the symphonic dances, which I made with a someone who had no business dying. Even the sloppy housekeepers in the White House whole new orchestration, and that I’ve played Dinner with Lenny: The Last at the age of 72, one had a deep feeling of For one thing, a little prodding here and there since 1980. He speaks of “the brainlessness, a lot. I actually never studied West Side Story Long Interview with Leonard unfairness that this wonder had been taken was helpful, if not critical. We are reminded the mindlessness, the carelessness, and the from beginning to end – I was too busy from us. Bernstein, by Jonathan Cott, that Lenny was never one to be worshipped heedlessness of the Reagans of the world.” writing it, and recomposing it.” unstintingly by those around him in his Closer to home on the subject of good published by Oxford University Now we have two books to remind us that profession. Critics like the NY Times’ Harold creative rock music, which was at one time In his Postlude Cott gets down to the issue of Press, 183 pages; Lenny was very much a mortal, if indeed a Schonberg rarely had a good word for the populated by groups like The the Rolling Lenny’s smoking; it appears Lenny could not toweringly gifted one. The book by Jonathan maestro’s performances of the classics. Pierre Stones and the Beatles, that entire music has function without cigarettes. And he provides Leonard Bernstein at Work: Cott, one-time writer for Rolling Stone, is Boulez, his successor at the NY Phil, had an come down to a “boo and a hiss,” thanks to more detail about the effect his failing health His Final Years. 1984-1990, based on an interview Mr. Cott had with L.B. altogether different approach to Mahler; his the greedy, kids‐oriented record companies. had on his final days. In Steve Sherman’s book about a year before the maestro’s death and photographs by Steve J. comments were taken by Lenny, who exalted No, Lenny remained a die‐hard liberal to the we get some more varied perspectives. Those so is not exactly a new offering. The magazine Mahler, as rampant intellectualism and a end because, as he put it, he believed in who were close to the maestro and who lived Sherman, with remembrances had published an abridged version of the personal attack on him. But we pick up many people, not things. through his later years up close expressed by Bernstein’s colleagues, conversation that was completely taped by very positive things about the great figures of their views divergently. For one, clarinetist friends and family. Published Cott in1990. He had spent a good 12 hours the arts, both dead and alive. We doubt that What did Lenny think of the classical music Stanley Drucker said simply “To me, Lenny by Amadeus Press. 170 pages. with the maestro at his home in Fairfield anyone could have been more serious about of the 20th century? He made no bones was always young, and then he died.” Connecticut. While Oxford’s publicity writer his love for the poets, as he quotes them at about his greater pleasure in following the referred to Mr. Cott as the fly on the wall, the drop of a hat, reminiscent of his famed “unabashed vitality” of Simon & Garfunkel Well, of course, life has its realities, and Lenny we see the interview, at least for much of Norton lectures at Harvard. and The Association than in “most of what is was all too human, a guy who, like so many

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of us, was uncaring about his worst habits. left (free) hand. In other photos he is indeed Members of the orchestras he conducted also very early photos.) We see through Sherman’s But Lenny was in the end resigned to his fate. Without sounding too moralistic, I must say wearing glasses at some point, perhaps to had their own evaluations. Leonard David, photos, all shot by him while he was still in his After a really bad coughing spell during that that like so many other outstanding figures – help him study a new score which his failing NY Phil violist, observed that “With Lenny, twenties, and so many of the comments which, last Tanglewood concert, Lenny called it quits people who should have known better – he eyesight could not manage. This is something the bombast that accompanied practically incidentally, have been carefully indexed, that for good. The glitter was gone. He admitted he became one more complicit victim of cigarette few of us may have been aware of (or for that everything he did, the way he spoke and Bernstein retained much of his charismatic was afraid of dying. “Love brings on tears,” he manufacturers. He wasn’t a perfect person by matter, that Lenny was getting radiological dressed and the rest of his personal habits, in a power, even during the last two years when he uttered, “and I can’t cry.” Maybe this is what any means, and his constant smoking took therapy near the end, as mentioned by sense were a cover‐up for a personal shyness ... was at his physical ebb. Sherman observed. control of him in the end. He died of COPD, Jonathan Cott). I don’t even remember hearing him say, ’I’m the the same disease that killed my own father. greatest,’ or ‘I’m the authority;’ he always left There is little even the most nit-picking critics Lenny died on October 14, 1990. If anyone So if that photo conveys an expression of room for a little insecurity.” can find in this book to carp at. Yes, the page doubted his standing with the city of Vienna, You get the drift of this element of Lenny’s sublime pleasure, when we flip the book over numbering is hard to read, close to invisible where he had developed an unexpectedly life as you read the text in the pages of to the back we see a close-up of Lenny with Apparently, those closest to him never found (so as not to compete with the photos, one close relationship with the orchestra, let it be Leonard Bernstein at Work. Lenny was too his baton in a more subdued moment. His Lenny the least bit shy. For example, Betty guesses). And one may wonder exactly how the observed that at his death the city declared an wrapped up in himself and mostly inattentive head is down and his hands are calm, in a Comden and Adolph Green shared great comments appearing in the sections devoted official period of mourning. At Lincoln Center to those around him when it came to state of reasonable control. But his eyes are fun with him. They often engaged in playful to specific events Lenny directed relate to the flags were flown at half-mast and Broadway personal advice. When John Ware, NY Phil. open and we notice that the visible left eye acronyms. (L.B. was a great fan of British style events themselves. Were they made backstage, lights were dimmed. His funeral cortege trumpeter, gave him a brief lecture, Lenny is very much in control, glaring far ahead. crosswords.) Lenny once sent Betty a wordy in the press or at some other time entirely? We consisted of twenty hearses as it made its way responded sarcastically with, ”Why don’t Perhaps such a small observation conveys a big note based on BEDDIM, and Betty, a clever note that these comments are a mix of excerpts through Manhattan and Brooklyn streets on you spank me. I’m a bad boy.” At the same truth, that Lenny was not just another baton writer herself, returned with LENUSHKA from interviews made by Robert Sherman, notes its way to the Green-Wood Cemetery where time, singer Marilyn Horne recalls, “...he had waver but an astute surveyor of everything that (incorporating the words Love, Empathy, Naches by Steve himself and still other sources, and that he was buried next to his wife Felicia. Cott a bad spell with his lungs, and as he came went on before him. In fact, as we gaze upon (happiness in Yiddish), Um-beschrie-en (God all in all they support the flow of the photos echoed the press reports that along the route offstage, he had to use a Nebulizer to clear the photos in this book it is always his eyes that forbid), Slobbering, Happiness, Knocked out, that carry the exact chronology of events construction workers removed their hard hats his passages, but he was smoking at the reveal an inordinate intelligence. Augmented). At Lenny’s 70th birthday the during 1984-1990. So perhaps such fine details and shouted, ”Goodbye, Lenny.” same time.” wishes of Green were effusive. “How happy your will be of more concern to reviewers than to average readers. It is the latter to whom I would He was indeed the people’s maestro.  recommend this book highly.

The very last photos we see of Lenny here were taken after a concert featuring Bruckner’s Ninth He was indeed the Symphony. Sherman puts down his camera to write with some poignancy, “[He] did not face [his audience] with his characteristic smile, grace, or gratified delight. Exhaustion? The after affect of Bruckner? I sensed a melancholy people’s maestro. much deeper; I stood transfixed, strangely moved as I watched this long, quiet journey. These were the last photos I would ever take of Leonard Bernstein.” It is Steve’s photos that immediately grab your Others may see these photos differently. The friendship makes me... I’m only looking for a way attention here and keep it on the pages. They text reveals that Bernstein’s many colleagues to say I love you, my friend.” The many musicians Well, perhaps the ultimate Romantic would bring the maestro back to life in so vivid a and collaborators, though always in his spell in he collaborated with were also adoring and just speculate that Lenny was indeed affected by manner that you feel you are present at the one way or another, had colorful things to say plain supportive. Isaac Stern, commenting on the Bruckner. I have heard that performance on scenes laid out before you. Even though we about him. Marilyn Horne believes “He was a Lenny’s non-musical activism, said, “He was a record and it is truly white hot with emotion. see Lenny here as a man in his waning years, great influence, a great teacher, a wonderful determined humanist believing in the absolute The Adagio of the symphony ends it; it carries a he cannot help but “glitter and be gay.” We collaborator. But he was also nuts – Lenny had necessity of decency.” And so it goes. mighty stunning climax in which one (with any are also stunned by those solo photos, for his demons.” sort of imagination) can believe that the very example, the two used for the front and back If the purpose of Leonard Bernstein at Work religious Anton Bruckner has seen God and the covers. The photo of him conducting on the A much more profound assessment was made was simply to capture the life force that meeting is indescribable except through the front captures that moment when the music after his death by Allison Ames, senior producer was so much a part of Leonard Bernstein, music. Was Lenny, the consummate musician, he is making simply overwhelms him, but here at DGR. “He was very perverse, absolutely a especially through visual means, then it has in a metaphysical embrace with Bruckner? The we see him holding a pair of spectacles in his perverse child in many ways. He was a jokester succeeded well. (Cott, by the way chose not composer put down his pen after composing absolutely, but I think, as with many jokesters, it to publish the familiar late images of Lenny that Adagio. Lenny put down his baton after was the smiley mask that fit over, that covered and instead showed a small number of mostly conducting it. He, too, could now go in peace. the deep tragedy.”

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